"Unlocking the Cage" Looks at the Unprecedented Challenge to Expand Legal Personhood to Chimpanzees

17 February 2017

Courtesy of HBO

"Unlocking the Cage"
Premieres Monday, February 20 at 8 PM ET/PT on HBO

“They used to bark at me when I walked into the courtroom,” says renowned animal rights attorney Steven Wise. After 30 years of struggling with ineffective animal welfare laws, Wise and his legal team, the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), have found a novel way to protect animals. They are making history by filing the first lawsuits that seek to transform an animal from a thing with no rights to a person with legal protections.

Directed by Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker (who previously collaborated on HBO’s Emmy®-winning “Elaine Stritch at Liberty”), the thought-provoking documentary UNLOCKING THE CAGE follows Wise’s unprecedented quest to break down the legal wall that separates animals from humans when it debuts MONDAY, FEB. 20 (8:00-9:35 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. (The documentary will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.)

In Dec. 2013, Wise and his legal team, using writs of habeas corpus (historically used to free humans from unlawful imprisonment), filed three lawsuits demanding limited personhood rights for four captive chimpanzees in New York State. Supported by affidavits from scientists and primatologists, the NhRP urged the courts to release the animals to Save the Chimps, a Florida sanctuary.

The first plaintiff was Tommy, a 26-year-old chimp who began life in Hollywood movies, and was found living alone in a garage on a used trailer lot. The lower court judge was sufficiently impressed with the merits of the case and directed the lawsuit up to the Appellate Court in Albany, where five judges heard Wise’s argument in Oct. 2014. It was the first time a U.S. court openly debated whether a nonhuman animal should be considered a legal person.

Two months later, the Appellate Division in Rochester considered a second case involving Kiko, an abused showbiz chimp living in a Niagara Falls storefront. The initial decisions on these cases were wildly divergent, and showcase the legal disarray wrought by Wise’s efforts.
But his final case, on behalf of Hercules and Leo, chimps used for research at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is the one that truly challenged the court. Arguing against New York’s assistant attorney general, Wise made an impassioned plea that inspired state Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe to openly question, “Why can’t a chimpanzee be deemed a ‘person’ for the sole purposes Mr. Wise says: of permitting the habeas writ to the very limited extent sought? Why isn’t that an appropriate use of this great writ?”

This historic declaration – along with the legal ground that Jaffe broke when first granting the writ – became a milestone in animal rights.

UNLOCKING THE CAGE is an intimate look at a lawsuit that could forever transform the legal system, and one man’s quest to break down the wall that separates humans from animals.

In addition to directing HBO’s Emmy®-winning “Elaine Stritch at Liberty” (for which they also shared an Emmy® nomination, along with Andy Picheta and Nick Doob, for Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program), Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker directed the Oscar®-nominated feature documentary “The War Room.” Pennebaker also received an Academy Honorary Award in 2013.

This area is reserved for members of the news media. If you qualify, please update your user
profile and check the box marked "Check here to register as an accredited member of the news media". Please include any notes
in the "Supporting information for media credentials" box. We will notify you of your status via e-mail in one business day.